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Strategies for
picking
technologies
With so many categories of tools and so many choices in each category, you need a
strategy to guide your choices. A
strategy cannot pick a particular brand
of tool. It can, however, help you filter
the list of available tools and ensure
your choices are informed and
consistent.
This section will help you develop a coherent strategy for selecting technologies and
tools.
OVERVIEW OF A STRATEGY
To pick tools and technologies
wisely, your organization needs a
systematic process to identify,
acquire, and implement specific
products—a strategy that can be
used to select tools and
technologies consistently across
the enterprise.
This chapter presents a strategy for
picking tools. Use it as the basis for
your own strategy. This strategy
articulates the actions and
decisions needed for acquiring
tools. In this chapter we discuss
Don’t have an overall management
strategy for e-learning? May I recommend
another book by one of the authors of this

book other than me? It is Leading
E-learning and is available from its
publisher, ASTD (astd.org), or from
horton.com.
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each of these actions and decisions in detail. The actions and decisions expanding
from the Pick tools box in the diagram are covered in chapter 20.
The sequence shown here indicates, in general, when a step is completed—not when it
starts. For instance, you need to begin thinking about implementation long before you
buy anything. That’s our subtle way of telling you to read this entire chapter before
you begin putting the strategy into action.
The first step in our suggested strategy is to Set technology goals. What must the
technology do for your organization’s e-learning efforts? With broad goals defined,
you will probably need to Form a team, task force, working group, or (yipes)
committee to advise, discuss, and help make decisions. The next two steps usually
proceed in parallel. In one step, you define the specific Categories of products you
need, for example a learning management system, a course authoring tool, and
specific media editors. In a parallel step, you set Policies for the kinds of companies
and products most compatible with your organization and its goals. The next step,
Pick tools, is repeated for each category of tool you need. Once you pick tools, you
must compile a budget and Get the money to Buy them. Buying tools involves finding
the best vendor and negotiating the best deal. The final step, Implement, is one that is
often forgotten—at least the first time around.
This strategy is quite flexible. Take the time to adapt it to your organization and its
unique way of doing business. The rest of this chapter goes into detail about each of

the steps of this strategy.
Do you really need a strategy?
The word strategy resonates with undertones of bureaucracy, paperwork, and endless
committee meetings. It is natural to question whether you need a technology strategy as
such. Before you skip this chapter entirely, take a few minutes to consider whether you need
a strategy.
You probably do not need a strategy if you are only purchasing a few copies of a few
inexpensive tools. Instead, follow the advice in chapter 20 on how to select individual tools.
If you have an overall strategy for managing the move to e-learning, you may already have
a strategy for acquiring needed technology. Just skim this chapter to see if the ideas
suggested here can be incorporated into your overall strategy.
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SET YOUR TECHNOLOGY GOALS
To set your strategy for acquiring and using technology, you need to conduct some
self-analysis. You need to examine your organization’s goals and culture and what
they imply about the tools and technologies that best suit your organization’s
capabilities and style of doing business.
Consider organizational goals
In setting your strategy, you must consider your
organization’s reasons for investing in technology. We
recommend you consider three levels: enterprise goals,
performance goals, and learning goals. Think of each level
as a cascade of ever more specific objectives.
Enterprise goals
The enterprise goals of an organization concern its ability to
carry out its chartered mission. These goals are often expressed in monetary terms but
not necessarily as profit. Even public institutions and nonprofit organizations have

business goals though they may call them “economic goals” or “institutional
objectives.” Here are some examples of business goals.
f
Increase profit from sales by 20% over the next quarter
f
Increase student enrollment by 30% without any new construction
f
Integrate employees of a newly acquired subsidiary into the overall enterprise
Business goals are the ultimate reason for acquiring technology. They tell you whether
the tools are an investment, an asset, or an expense.
Performance goals
Performance goals state who must do what to achieve the enterprise goals.
Performance goals generally specify actions. These actions may require learning and
technology. Examples of performance goals include:
f
Double sales of high-margin products by the end of the next quarter
f
Increase enrollment in online degree programs to 4000 students
f
Achieve transfer of loyalty by employees of acquired subsidiaries to the new
parent organization
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Performance goals may be accomplished by learning—hence the need for e-learning
technology—or by other means. You can better justify technology by showing how it
contributes in multiple ways to accomplishing performance goals.
Learning goals

Learning goals specify who must learn what to accomplish the performance goals.
Examples of learning goals include:
f
Sales representatives will be able to convince customers to switch to high-margin
products
f
Students in online degree programs will learn as effectively as those in
conventional programs
f
Employees from subsidiaries will subscribe to values of the parent organization
and feel full membership in it
Learning goals are the most direct impetus for e-learning technology; however, they
alone are not always sufficient to justify such large purchases.
Goals are often vague and open-ended. To guide technology purchases, goals must be
translated into more specific strategies, policies, and requirements. The translation
may be difficult and inexact, but never let your decision-making process stray from
the goals behind it.
Consider organizational culture
If you think organizational goals are vague and hard to pin down, try scouting out
your organization’s culture. Culture is seldom written down. Culture is not found in
the grand pronouncements about treasuring diversity found in annual reports or on
yellowing posters peeling off cafeteria walls. It is in the assumptions, biases, and
predilections that subtly guide day-to-day decisions throughout the organization.
Culture is not something stated by the CEO on CNBC or in the Wall Street Journal.
Culture concerns the unconscious values as actually practiced by everybody in the
organization.
These values affect how the organization does business and how it best uses
technology. What are some of these values that make up an organizational culture?
f
Mission. How does the organization see its role? Although universities, law firms,

and telecoms have a common economic basis, they define their missions very
differently. Does you organization aim for social good, for profit, for development
of people, or for advancement of technology? An organization whose mission is
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social good may want to consider the social effects of its purchasing decisions,
whereas a for-profit organization may want the best product at the best price.
f
Obligations to stakeholders. What does the organization believe it owes its
owners, employees, customers, partners, and community? An organization that
values internal talent may want to bring technology in-house to upgrade skills of
employees. A public university sensitive to the concerns of taxpayers may seek the
most economical solution it can find.
f
Skills valued. What kinds of expertise does the organization treasure? What skills
lead to rapid promotion and inclusion in decision-making? What are the skills that
got top executives where they are today? Your choices of technology and how it is
deployed must be compatible with the skills possessed and valued by the
organization. For example, an organization that views IT as core skills will be more
receptive to bringing technology in-house. An organization that values general
business management skills may prefer to supervise external contractors and
consultants.
f
Self-reliance. Is the organization a do-it-yourself or farm-it-out organization? Bill
once worked for a computer company that had its own trucking, rental car, and
executive housing departments. We have worked for other companies with a
skeleton staff of managers who subcontract everything.
f

Secrecy. Does the culture encourage sharing knowledge, or does it enforce a need-
to-know policy? Does the organization feel obligated to protect secret, confidential,
or proprietary information? Medical facilities, military installations, legal firms,
and research laboratories may demand technologies with proven security features.
More open organizations may require easy-to-use collaboration tools.
f
Innovation. Does the organization want to be seen as an innovator? Does it reward
risk-takers and tolerate eccentric behavior? Is creativity more important than
efficiency? Or would the organization rather be perceived as stable and
dependable? Innovative organizations are more likely to welcome risky new
technology.
f
Growth. Does the organization want to grow rapidly in size? Or would it rather
grow slowly? Does its reputation matter more than short-term financial results?
Will the organization’s ability to acquire and digest new technology limit its
growth? Or can technology be used to remove limits to its growth?
Harvard University, IBM, the government of Malaysia, Microsoft, the Houston
Independent School District, Hewlett Packard, and the Vatican all have distinct
organizational cultures and values that govern their purchasing decisions. Your
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organization has its own culture, and that culture should be reflected in your strategy
for acquiring e-learning technology.
Know what you want to do
Before you proceed, you must know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. A
clearly worded statement of objectives will tell you what technical features to look for
in tools and technologies.

This statement of objectives should take into account your enterprise, performance,
and learning goals as well as your process for acquiring e-learning tools. (See chapters
20 and 21.)
To help you arrive at your objectives, ask yourself:
f
Do you want to produce a standard type of e-learning, such as instructor-led
e-learning, learner-led e-learning? Or, will your solution span several categories or
perhaps establish a new category altogether?
f
How broad are your goals? Are you acquiring tools for a single, carefully
circumscribed project? Or does your charter extend to all the e-learning within the
organization or beyond to encompass online documentation, Web-based job aids,
knowledge management, and e-commerce?
f
What media do you need? Is displayed text enough? Can you get by with crude
line drawings? Do you need sound, music, and voice? How about moving pictures
provided by animation or video segments? What level of quality do you require for
these media? For example, is computer-synthesized voice sufficient? If you require
recorded voice, must it be high-fidelity or is AM-broadcast quality good enough?
f
Must the learning product be embedded in, packaged with, or displayed alongside
some other software or information system?
f
How experienced are your learners? Do they already know how to operate the
computer and its operating system? Have they taken e-learning before? Have they
used online collaboration systems? How much training will they need?
f
Is the purpose of your e-learning to increase long-term knowledge or just to
answer immediate questions?
f

How much time do you have for the whole project?
f
What is your overall budget? How much have you allocated for technology? Even
if you do not have a formal budget yet, can you estimate the range of money you
could spend?
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f
Are you creating a prototype or the finished product?
f
How much content will courses contain? How broad and deep are your
educational goals?
f
Is what you are teaching primarily factual knowledge, technical skills, soft skills,
psychomotor skills, attitudes, or some mixture of these different forms?
Answers to questions like these will help you express your goals in a form that can
guide your decisions.
FORM A TEAM
If your title is chief learning czar, if
you own the majority of stock in your
organization, or if you have
unbreakable tenure, you may not feel
you need a team to help you select
and implement technologies. It may
be more efficient for one person to
make the decisions, but other people
do have good ideas and getting a bit
of consensus never hurts. And

teamwork can be fun.
So who do you need on your team,
working group, strike force, or SWAT (Special Wizards Acquiring Technology) team?
Here is a recommendation for the makeup of such a team.
At the top is the team leader who is responsible for making decisions. We nominate
you. If you choose not to accept this position, please see that it is filled by someone
with both technical knowledge and people skills.
Also on the team are a close group of people who may recommend and ratify
decisions. They may even think they make the decisions. They suggest, recommend,
discuss, debate, deliberate, and consider each decision from many different
perspectives. Within this group we recommend representative learners, instructors,
instructional designers, and information technologists. These representatives should
have the authority and experience to speak for their respective groups. You may want
to add representatives of a few more groups to meet the special needs of your
organization.
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A third group of team members includes those who advise on decisions. Their
involvement may be short-term or limited to specific decisions. In this area are
specialists in purchasing, accounting, and finance. You may want to call on peers
within your organization or in other organizations. You will certainly want to keep
executives informed and seek their advice on issues of organizational policy. For some
special issues, you may need to seek the advice of outside consultants or trusted
vendors. And don’t forget the informal advice of friends, parents, and lovers.
The team should be dynamic and flexible. You know your organization and your
mission. Pick a team that works.
IDENTIFY NEEDED CATEGORIES OF TOOLS

You may need tools from several different categories. One of your strategic decisions
will be to narrow your list of needed tool categories to just a few.
Identify capabilities needed to carry out your designs
To pick tools wisely,
design your e-learning
before you pick the tools to
build it. First, design some
example courses or
modules of the type you
want to create. Just specify
them on paper. Second, list
the capabilities you require
for constructing and
deploying them. Third,
map your required
capabilities to tools that
can provide these
capabilities.
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In a perfect world, all your capabilities could be met by one tool. In putting together
your real-world toolkit, realize that some tools can meet multiple requirements, and
some capabilities will require multiple tools. Some capabilities will require building
your own tools or at least creatively combining multiple tools. And, some capabilities
may not be possible yet. Your challenge is to put together the best set of tools your
can, realizing that the perfect tools may not exist.
By designing first, you ensure that you pick tools that provide as many of the needed
capabilities as possible. If you pick tools before you know what capabilities you need,

you may later have to scale down your project to fit the capabilities of tools you have
already purchased.
Select categories of tools
There are many categories of tools—far more than you are likely to need on a single
project. Early in your project, you should identify the specific categories of tools you
will need.
To identify categories of
needed tools, first determine
the role for which you need
tools. Using the tools
framework, you can spot
areas where you need tools
and areas that you can leave
to others.
Here is an example of some of
the kinds of organizations
that require e-learning
technology and the categories they need.
What roles do you play and what are your areas of responsibility in this framework?
Knowing your role will help you pick the categories of tools you need.
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Example: Corporate training department
Suppose you manage a corporate training department charged with designing,
developing, and offering 50 asynchronous, learner-led online courses. To carry out
this role, you will obviously need tools to create and offer courses, lessons, and pages.
What about the other areas

on the framework? Because
you are offering individual
courses, not programs or
curricula, you can forego
tools at the curriculum level.
You may choose to
subcontract the creation and
offering of media, especially
audio and video. You may
also opt to leave the choice
of tools for accessing your
courses to learners. If that is
the case, you will have to design your courses so they work with popular browsers
and media players and make your requirements clear.
So, how do you pick tools to
meet your role? You can
start by considering the tools
that overlap the tasks and
levels that make up your
role. One obvious candidate
is an LCMS, mainly because
it covers much of your area
of responsibility.
Of course the LCMS may in
turn require a Web server.
And, you may want to
enrich the content it can
provide by including Web site authoring tools to create pages with better formatting
and more interactivity than provided by templates in the LCMS. If you wish to
include existing documents in your courses, you may need some conversion tools.

By identifying the main categories needed for your specific tasks and levels, you
narrow your search and focus your efforts.
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SET POLICIES
A strategy manifests itself as policies that govern tactical decisions. In this section we
list five mostly independent policies to govern your choices of technology.
Policies are not yes/no binary rules. They are better represented as a scale with two
extremes and choices in between. Your policy need not be a single point on the scale.
It can be a smear along it. Policies suggest preferences but do not make decisions.
They suggest which products to consider first and who gets the benefit of the doubt.
Policies can be real tiebreakers. Mainly they keep you grounded in the goals behind
your effort.
Let’s look at each of these policies, the choices they offer, and how the choices affect
your selection of tools and technologies.
Buy or build?
Should you buy tools or build your own? Many prefer to buy a tool in a colorful,
shrink-wrapped box and have it do everything they need. Sometimes, alas, one tool
can’t do everything you need. And there are reasons for building some of your own
tools. Let’s take a look at when to buy and when to build.
Starting on the Buy end of the scale, you are seeking one all-purpose tool. On the
Build end of the scale, you are programming your own tools from scratch. The choice
of whether to buy or build a tool is not a choice of one or the other of these extremes,
though. You have choices in between.
Rather than seek tools that provide all the needed capabilities, a less extreme position
might be to combine smaller, readily available tools. For example, instead of
purchasing an LCMS or virtual classroom with built-in project management tools, you
could opt to do project management with corporate tools like Microsoft Excel or

Project.
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The advantages at the Buy end of the scale are:
f
Convenience. Buying tools is more convenient, and the resulting toolset is likely to
be consistent.
f
Speed. If you are in a hurry to get started, buying a tool is the better approach
because you can open the box and go to work without having to design, build, and
debug your own tools.
f
Ease of use. Fewer technical skills are required to operate tools someone else
developed. More third-party training and information is available.
Moving closer the Build end of the scale, you might consider combining standard
tools and adding some custom programming or scripting to enhance them and make
them work better together.
The advantages at the Build end of the scale are:
f
Control. Building your own tools gives you more control over what they do and
how they work.
f
Innovation. Building your own tools allows more innovation and flexibility in
crafting solutions for learners.
f
Revenue. You can resell tools you build to others, providing a secondary source of
revenue. In fact, several tool vendors started out by reselling tools they developed

for internal projects.
Look at systems your organization is using already, such as human resource
management systems or content management systems. Are there any snap-ins, add-
ons, or accessories available to extend the functionality of these systems to meet your
needs?
Your buy-versus-build choice depends on several factors. One is the level of technical
skills in your organization. Building tools takes considerable skill in writing programs
and scripts, configuring software packages, and managing the process of integrating
components.
A second factor affecting your approach is your organization’s focus. Are you focused
on means or ends? If your interest is just the ends of making knowledge more widely
available, you want to focus all your efforts on creating effective content, not on
building tools. On the other hand, if you are concerned with implementing the most
effective processes, regardless of content, then you should focus on building new tools
and developing new technologies.
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Big name or startup?
Should you go with big-name tools? Big-name tools are certainly the best known.
They are the ones everyone compares themselves to. But are they the best choice for
you? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of big-name products. Again,
this is not an either-or choice. There are positions all along the scale.
There are certain advantages as you move toward the Big-name end of the scale,
such as:
f
Track record. From this historical trail, you can see whether the product has been
updated regularly. Has the product been reliable? Have bugs been fixed quickly?
Has the product evolved to take advantage of changes in the market and in

technology?
f
Financial information. Big-name products tend to come from public companies,
for which considerable information is available to help you gauge their future
prospects. You can tell whether they are making money and whether they are
likely to have the funds to continue to improve their product.
f
Training and consulting. Well-established products are more likely to have third-
party training, consulting, books, and contractors available to assist you
As you move to the Startup end of the scale, there are other advantages, such as:
f
Innovation. A startup is not limited by the need to avoid radical changes that
might confuse their existing customers. They do not have an extensive “installed
base” to cause them to defend their ways of doing things rather than improve
them.
f
Sensitivity. Startups can more easily respond to the needs of a small number of
users. A small company is likely to be more willing to listen to smaller
organizations and to craft solutions for them.
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f
Pricing. Startups may have more flexible pricing models aimed at smaller
companies. Because they are trying to build their client base, start-ups may be
more willing to work with you to arrive at a mutually advantageous agreement.
You may be able to garner benefits from both sides of the scale if you deal with small
but established companies, or if you work with a start-up whose tools are mature. For

instance, if you do business with an established but less well-known company, you
have a track record to evaluate. And the company may be more competitive and
perhaps able to offer a more attractive pricing schedule than the best-known
company. If you wait for a version 2.0 from a start-up company, you gain more
stability in the tool but still benefit from better pricing and individual attention.
Old or new technology?
How far in the vanguard of technology do you want to be? Do you want to use the
hottest new tool with the latest and greatest technology, or would you rather stick
with tried and true tools based on refined technologies? To help you decide, imagine a
scale running from pre-Internet technology on the left to bleeding-edge technology on
the right. In the middle is a zone of established Internet technology.
On the left, under pre-Internet technology are disk-based tools from the days before
computers were connected. On the left side of established Internet technologies zone
are early technologies like HTML, JavaScript, Internet newsgroups, and chat. In the
middle of this zone are technologies such as Java, Dynamic HTML, and streaming
media. On the right side are the more advanced Internet technologies like Extensible
Markup Language (XML). The bleeding-edge end is represented by whatever is hot
today.
Where should your organization and your project be on this scale? Let’s start with old
technology at the left of the scale and look at the advantages.
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f
Stability and reliability. Older tools are well developed. They have gone through
many version numbers; therefore, most of the bugs and problems have been sorted
out—with any luck. The underlying technology they use is stable and well
documented.
f

Support for existing content. If you have large amounts of existing content
encoded with older tools, you cannot move too far ahead of that legacy content.
f
Ease of use. Established and highly refined tools make creating content easier.
These tools have had more time to perfect the user interface and implement
feedback from users. And users are more knowledgeable about the technologies
they are based on.
There are other advantages if you choose new technology.
f
Performance. Tools supporting new technologies provide higher performance.
That is, they are faster and more efficient. If you need high performance to
maintain your competitive position in the marketplace—whether it is internal or
external—then you should consider tools based on new technologies.
f
Chance to start over. Tools at the new-technology end of the scale do not actively
support older technologies to sustain their existing client base. If you adopt tools
that use new technologies, you have a chance to rethink your mission, jettison that
old content, and make a fresh start.
f
Snob appeal. If your organization values being the first on the block to implement
a new technology, then the right end of the scale is where you want to be.
To decide your position on this scale, consider carefully your degree of technical
expertise and that of your learners. The higher the levels of technical expertise, the
more advanced the technology you can use. Also remember that the scale itself is
moving. What is considered advanced today will be ho-hum tomorrow. You may
want to aim a bit ahead of your current preferences.
Own or rent?
Do you want to own or rent your e-learning technology? In the United States,
businesses and individuals are increasingly opting to lease rather than own
automobiles. Some businesses lease almost all their assets, including office buildings,

warehouses, manufacturing machinery, and office computers. This trend is extending
to software as well. Many vendors of server-based software now offer both a product,
which you install on your own hardware, and a service, which they host on their own
servers and make available to you over the Web.
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On the left of the scale, you fully own the
technology. The software runs on machines
you own and that are installed on your
premises. At the rent end of the spectrum, you
own nothing. You contract with a Web-hosted
service. The software runs on their machines.
You access it over the Web.
These are the extremes, but there are some
compromises in between. Left of center, you
may edit content locally and then upload it to
the service. Here you own the tools for authoring content but not those for offering it.
Another compromise to the right of center is a customizable Web service. Most hosted
products let customers adjust the look and feel of the service to match corporate
identity standards. Others let customers adjust basic features of the service.
Owning your own technology is an investment in your organization’s infrastructure.
Owning tools gives you:
f
More control. You can customize, configure, enhance, tweak, and accessorize
them.
f
Lower long-term costs. If you are efficient at managing IT, owning may be less

expensive over the long term.
f
Improved integration. Bringing the technology in-house may be essential for tools
that must connect to existing corporate information systems.
Renting, on the other hand, has advantages like:
f
Quicker ramp-up. Because the Web service is already up and running, you can
generally get started quicker. You do not have to install, test, or maintain the tool.
f
Lower initial investment. Renting requires less up-front investment of time and
money. And, because you pay for it over time, it requires a lower initial investment
Legally speaking you may not “own”
the software you buy. You merely
license it. Remember that dialog
box that required you to agree to
the terms and conditions of the
license? Next time read it and you
will most likely discover that you
merely have a license to use the
software. But let’s not be pedantic.
When we say “own” we mean you
control its use inside your
organization.
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of cash. Additionally, it may require less investment of your staff’s time to acquire
the expertise necessary to set up and maintain the software on your own machines.
f

Less technical expertise. Renting makes sense if IT is not a core activity in your
organization or if you are not ready to commit to a particular set of tools.
So, should you own or rent your technology? Consider how much technology you
want on your premises and what you want to manage directly. Also, think about
whether you prefer to pay for technology as one up-front cost or as monthly
payments?
Proprietary or open tools?
One important strategic issue is whether to prefer proprietary or open tools.
Proprietary tools are ones that use private file formats and thus cannot easily be
combined with tools from other companies. Proprietary tools or toolsets try to do
everything you need so you don’t need other tools.
No issue evokes more emotion, passion, or silliness than the issue of proprietary or
open tools. This policy is only slightly technical and is mostly about philosophy and
political alliances.
Along this scale you find clumps of interoperable products and compatible
technologies. At the proprietary extreme, most people put Microsoft. (Critics and
MS-phobes call it The Evil Empire.) Microsoft’s operating systems and office suite
have achieved dominance in their markets. This dominance has spawned numerous
e-learning products that work only on Microsoft operating systems or with Microsoft
databases.
Next along the scale, still toward the proprietary end, come products based on
Macromedia’s Flash animation tool. Flash fanatics prefer to do everything in Flash,
eschewing HTML, browsers, and other technologies. Because Flash can be made to
run on most common operating systems, its use is not as limiting as the reliance on a
single product might imply.
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Next along the scale, toward the open end, are tools based on Sun Microsystems’s
Java programming language. Tools created in Java run on most popular operating
systems, at least in theory. Around the basic Java language has sprung an industry
supplying components and development tools.
On the open end of the spectrum is what is called the Hippy Code Commune.
Outwardly fueled by altruism, this cluster of developers offers open-source tools
based entirely on open industry standards. Open source tools come with the
underlying source code, which buyers can modify to adapt the tool to their purposes.
Because these tools use documented, open file formats, they can be combined with
tools from other vendors that use the same file formats.
So, where do you fit on this political spectrum? The proprietary approach offers:
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Simplicity to those who can accomplish their mission with proprietary tools.
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Comprehensiveness. Proprietary tools tend to be complete and require less
custom programming than open tools.
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Support. Proprietary tools are generally well documented and supported. If
something goes wrong, you know who to blame.
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Trust. Your organization may trust products from Microsoft and Macromedia.
Users within your organization have learned the quirks of these companies and
products and are comfortable with them.
Open tools have their advantages too. They offer:
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Broad operating system support. Open tools enable you to deliver learning on
more operating systems and devices.
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Low cost. Some open source tools are available for free or at a low cost relative to
their proprietary counterparts.

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More alternatives. If one open-source tool does not work, then maybe another will.
Or, an open-source programmer may currently be working on the enhancement
you need.
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Distrust of large corporations. You will find a like-minded community among
open-source tools users and developers.
Of all the strategic policies, this one is most likely to be set on an organization-wide
level. Your IT department may have already standardized on Java-based or Microsoft-
compatible tools.
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Document your policies
Once you have made your policy decisions, take a few more steps and put them in a
format that others can read and understand them. You can start by ticking off the
proper position of your organization or project on these scales.
Next, document the reasons for your policies. Relate your decisions back to
organizational goals and values. Explain how these policies will help pick tools to
accomplish the goals of your project and support your organization’s overall mission.
Now, get the policies ratified by your management. Present the policies and ask for
concurrence by the executives who will later approve your purchase
recommendations. By getting commitment to your policies, you complete part of the
approval process in advance.
Finally, promulgate your policies. Make sure everyone involved in the process of
picking tools understands them and the reasons behind them.
PICK TOOLS
Once you have identified the categories of tools you need and settled on policies for
acquiring them, you are ready to actually pick tools in each of the categories. This

process usually involves four main steps:
1. List the requirements for each tool.
2. Identify candidate products that may meet these requirements.
3. Evaluate the candidates against your requirements.
4. Select the best candidate.
The process of picking specific products is the subject of chapter 20.
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GET MONEY
Obtaining the funds to purchase tools and technologies requires putting together a
budget. Your budget must estimate costs and justify them in terms of enterprise goals
you identified.
Estimate costs
Here is an example of a budget. There is nothing at all remarkable about it. It simply
tallies the costs of various tools and spreads them out (amortizes them) over their
useful lives to arrive at annual costs. Some organizations prefer to see lump-sum
costs. Find out the preferred method for your organization.
Notice that the budget rounds off numbers. This signals the reader that these figures
are just estimates.
This spreadsheet covers costs for creating, offering, and accessing e-learning. It
probably won’t fit your situation exactly, but it may help you get started. It is at
horton.com/tools.
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Don’t forget costs beyond initial purchase price. These include:

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Maintenance
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Upgrades
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Training users
Justify costs
To actually get the money in your budget, you must justify the costs to your
organization. Getting money is a mixture of rational presentation of your case and
organizational cunning. We’ll help with the first part.
Show the return-on-investment
Most organizations require some financial calculation to show the financial benefit of
an investment. One of the most common ways of calculating such a benefit is as a
return on investment (ROI). It is simply the net benefit divided by the costs.
Here is an example from the
spreadsheet at horton.com/tools,
which shows the form of such a
calculation. The formula used in
your organization may vary, so
why not take a stroll over to your
finance or accounting department
and ask how they recommend
you calculate ROI.
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Show contribution to approved goals
Another way to justify your purchase is to show that it furthers already accepted

organizational goals.
This example, which is available
at horton.com/tools, shows the
contribution of an LCMS in an
organization’s strategy to reuse
learning materials. It compares
the net savings of implementing a
strategy of creating courses from
reusable modules with and
without an LCMS. In this
example, the strategy pays off
with an LCMS but not without
one. (Different assumptions lead
to different conclusions.
Experiment with the spreadsheet
and see for yourself.)
Brainstorm other benefits
Take a few minutes to list other potential benefits of acquiring the technology you
propose. Can the tools be used for other organizational purposes? For example, an
online meeting system intended for instructor-led e-learning could be used for other
types of meetings and collaboration as well. Will the technology have valuable side
effects, such as improving the information technology skills of staff? Think of as many
benefits as you can and list them in your budget.
BUY
Once you have selected a specific product and obtained the funding, you need to
actually buy the product. This step sounds simple, but there are still a few issues to
consider.
Get help
Two members of your technology team will be especially helpful during this phase:
Who What they can do to help you

Legal department Write and review contracts and service agreements.
Purchasing department Identify vendors, negotiate the purchase, and arrange payment.
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Shop
Shopping is not just buying. Shopping is also looking, comparing, and evaluating
alternatives. It is an education in itself. It can also be time-consuming and frustrating.
Even if you yield to the temptation of turning it over to your purchasing department,
stay involved and informed.
Get reliable data
First of all, get reliable data on which to base your decisions. Invite advice from your
IT department and vendors, and consult product reviews.
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Your IT department. Although they may not be familiar with your specific
e-learning needs, your information technologists know computers and computer
hardware. Explain your needs as clearly as you can. Ask them for
recommendations. Perhaps they have standards for what computers can be
purchased or what databases can be used. Learn what the standards are. The IT
department may even have repair data on certain brands that can help you judge
potential reliability.
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Vendors. Consult potential vendors’ Web sites to nail down specifications,
warranties, and other details. Spend some time checking their technical support
areas.
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Product reviews. Frequently, computer hardware magazines carry reviews and
product comparisons of new computer hardware and software. Some of these
magazines conduct their own performance tests and rate models by how well they

performed on these tests. These magazines may also rate other factors, such as
customer support and warranty coverage. These reviews sometimes suggest other
vendors to investigate—ones you may not have considered. Finally, if you read the
reviews carefully, you may pick up hints on the reputation of various vendors.
Some online review sites include:
 zdnet.com
 computers.cnet.com
 pcmag.com
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Get the best price
Once you have decided what specific product you want, it is time to find the best
price—not before. You cannot compare prices unless the products you are comparing
are the same. Here are some suggestions for finding the best price.
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Vendor’s sales representative. For simple products, the sales rep for the vendor
may not offer the best price. But for a complex system or for a negotiated deal, the
sales rep may be able to structure a price, billing, and payment plan that reduces
your overall costs and fits your cash flow constraints. Negotiate, negotiate,
negotiate. More on that later.
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Online retailers. Go to several retailers’ Web sites and search for the specific
product. Use the exact product name or manufacturer’s part number. Verify that
the item listed has the correct specifications. Compare prices. Be sure to include
any shipping charges.
If you are buying more than one unit, call the online retailer and ask for the
business sales division. Yes, all good online retailers take orders over the

telephone. You may get a more favorable price or better shipping terms if you are
purchasing more than one unit. If you have not purchased anything from the
online retailer before, be sure to check them out. Sites like bizrate.com and
www.bbbonline.com rate online retailers.
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Vendors’ Web sites. Go to the vendor’s Web site and look for the online store. In
some cases, the vendor-direct price may be cheaper. Or shipping may be free. Or
you may get an extended warranty bonus for ordering directly from the vendor.
Most major software vendors sell from their Web site.
If you have specialized hardware needs, you may be able to order a semi-
customized computer to meet those needs. You can specify the desired processor,
memory, disk space, video card, and other components. Sites from which you can
order semi-customized computers include hp.com, dell.com, ibm.com, sony.com,
and others.
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“Best price” shopping sites. Some Web sites advertise that they can find the best
price on anything. Go ahead, give them a try. If you do find a truly low price, be
sure to do some research on the vendor if you haven’t done business with them
before. Some comparison sites include:
 pricegrabber.com
 zdnet.com/computershopper
 cnet.com
 pricespy.com
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Local computer superstore. Check your local computer store if you have one
nearby. Many popular brands of computer hardware and software may be

similarly priced, whether from a retail store or from an online retailer. You may
prefer to examine the computer before buying it. However, the savings in shipping
will probably be offset by sales tax.
Consider other ways to buy
Here are a few additional ways you might choose to purchase hardware and software
for those taking e-learning and those authoring it.
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Custom builders. If you want the most computer power for the least amount of
money, then a custom builder is for you. You can probably find one near where
you live or work. They specialize in combining brand-name, off-the-shelf
components into any configuration you desire. You get everything you want and
nothing you don’t. Remember, you may need to negotiate details like warranty
and a service contract.
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System integrators. System integrators specialize in combining all the pieces of a
complex, enterprise-wide e-learning solution. They have expertise in workstations,
servers, software, and networks—all the elements that must work together
seamlessly to create a robust system. System integrators are best for big projects,
and the big-name firms may be best qualified for very large projects. Some well
known systems integrators include IBM (ibm.com) and EDS (eds.com).
Negotiate your best deal
If you are buying more than a few of the same item or if the total price is high, say
over $5000 USD, negotiate with the seller to get the best deal you can.
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Start with the price. Will the seller give you a discount? Will they give you their
deluxe package for the price of their standard package? Will they adjust billing and
payment to reduce interest costs?
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Negotiate the terms of the license. The license for using software can depend on
the total number of people who might ever use the tool, the number of concurrent

users, the number of machines the tool is installed on, or the number of sites or
workgroups in which the tool is used. Some licenses require annual renewal—for a
fee. Make sure you understand the terms of the license and negotiate a license that
minimizes the cost to you.
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Ask for free upgrades or at least a discount on future versions of the tool.
Upgrades may be sold as a subscription service or piecemeal as released.
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